Potions Partners
by Tiponi
Summary: Rose Weasley was a fairly good tempered girl. She had a knack for keeping herself in check, even when the rest of her family was running wild. There were a few things, however, which really (and I mean, really) ticked young Rose off.


Rose Weasley was a fairly good tempered girl. She had a knack for keeping herself in check, even when the rest of her family was running wild. There were a few things, however, which really (and I mean, _really) _ticked young Rose off. One was being called "Rosie" by anyone other than her Father and, occasionally, her best friend and cousin, Albus. Another was being asked the same question repeatedly throughout the day.

"Rosie! I just heard - are you okay?"

Rose felt her temper thin. Her hand tightened around her pencil, the lines of her drawing coming out darker as she pressed it roughly into the parchment. "Go away, Louis," she said, her teeth gritted together to keep herself from blowing up. "I'm perfectly fine. Promise."

"But Rosie-" Rose's eye twitched at the annoying nickname, but Louis didn't seem to notice. "It said on the board that you were partn-"

"I know what it said, Louis!" Rose snapped, spinning around angrily to scowl at him. "I'm not stupid; I know how to read! And, even if I was a complete imbecile and couldn't read it, you're just about the millionth person that has told me today so I think I would have gotten the message."

Louis had shrunk back while she ranted, but once she had huffed at him and turned away he took a small step towards her. After a moment he pulled out the chair across from her and gracefully plonked himself down. "Merlin, calm down, Rose. I'm just worried about you - everyone is."

Rose laughed humorlessly. Louis started at the strange noise. "Of course," she spat sarcastically, "those girls over there look terribly concerned."

Eyebrows scrunched curiously, Louis turned towards where Rose had indicated and let out a snort of laughter. On the other side of the courtyard, a group of girls, most clad in Ravenclaw and Slytherin robes - although there were a few Hufflepuff's mixed in, as well as a Gryffindor to boot - all glaring at Rose hatefully.

"They're just jealous," Louis said, openly staring at back at the girls. "Scorpius Malfoy has never given them the time of day."

"And he's just so gorgeous and dark and mysterious and bad, I know," Rose rolled her eyes, sarcastic once again. "I wish they would be jealous of me somewhere else; I haven't been able to get a stitch of homework done the past hour. It's bloody annoying."

Louis shook his head at her. "Language, crumpet. You're supposed to be a lady."

Rose rolled her eyes, an amused smile growing on her face at the mention of their old joke and the use of Louis's pet name for her. Albus might have been Rose's best friend, but Louis was most definitely her favorite cousin.

"I don't even understand why their jealous," Rose said, continuing as though Louis had never spoken. "It's not like I'm shagging him - we're just potion's partners."

Louis went pale. "You better not be shagging him!" he growled hotly. "You're too young to be doing anything like that."

"Please," Rose said, her blue eyes giving him a stern look. "How old were you when you first did it? Fifteen? I'm sixteen, Louis."

"It's different for blokes," Louis said tightly, his face strained in a nervous kind of way. "Girls should wait until their married. Or thirty."

"Thirty!" Rose echoed incredulously. "Hah! You're ridiculous."

Louis remained stern. "At least wait until you're out of school and I don't have to hear about it."

"Okay," Rose agreed easily. Louis was faintly surprised by her acceptance, but thankful all the same. "I promised Mum I'd wait until I graduated, anyway. If I'm going to get pregnant, I'm going to get a good education first."

Louis nodded firmly. "Good. Now, I've got to go meet James and Fred. Good luck in Potions."

"Okay," Rose said, sending her cousin a smile as he stood up.

"You'll be fine, Rose," Louis said, seeing her discomfort. "Don't let those girls bother you - they're just being stupid. And forget about what they've said about Malfoy, he's just a person. Like everyone else, but with blonde hair and the last name Malfoy."

Laughing, Rose nodded. "I know, thanks Louis."

"Anytime, crumpet," he said, giving her a warm smile before ruffling her hair and walking off.

Rose scowled at his retreating figure, fixing her hair.

* * *

Rose got to Potions class ten minutes early, as per usual. She positively loathed being late for classes, so she had made it a habit her first year to arrive at least five minutes early, ten minutes if possible. Since Potions was right after Lunch, it was easy to arrive as early as she liked.

Taking her customary seat in the middle of the left row, Rose took out her supplies and halfheartedly read through the chapter they would be studying that day. Rose figured they would either be making Felix Felicis or Amortentia. She was much more intrigued by the former and hoped the Professor would pick it.

Minutes passed as Rose read, and students slowly trickled in. All the girls in the class seemed intent on killing her with their eyes, and it was all Rose could do not to glare back. The boys in the room seemed to be shifting more towards angry of worried, and Rose had to roll her eyes at that. Why the hell everyone was making such a big deal out of this, she had no idea.

For several minutes, Rose succeeded in ignoring everyone, replaying Louis's words in her head like a mantra. Eventually, though, she snapped. Could you really blame her? Everyone in the room was out-right staring.

"I'm sure there are plenty of other fascinating things to stare at."

A few people jumped at her sudden outburst, but everyone turned away, their cheeks tainted pink. After a few moments of awkward silence, the Professor entered. Rose gave a sigh of relief. _Thank Merlin_.

"Is everyone here?" Professor Higgs asked, his green robes flaring out as he spun to face the class. "Yes? Good."

Rose's hand was halfway up, her mouth opening to tell him that Scorpius wasn't there yet, when she felt someone grab her hand and pull it back down to her lap. Pulling her limb back, she looked over sharply, eyes widening in shock as she noticed her new Potions partner sitting beside her as though he had been there all along.

The two stared at each other for longer than was polite, and Rose felt her ears get hot. "I didn't hear you come in," she finally said, her voice just above a whisper.

She could practically feel his self-esteem rise as he smirked. "I can be quiet when I want to be."

"Obviously," she said, her voice snarky. "I'm Rose."

"I know," he answered lightly, turning away from her and not bothering to share his name. Rose smirked, turning to listen to Professor Higgs explain the assignment. They were to start their Felix Felicis today - as it would take six months to brew. Rose couldn't help but feel excited; Liquid luck was so much cooler than a love potion.

"You have exactly one hour today, starting now," Professor Higgs finished. "Begin."

Rose turned to face Scorpius. "I'll get the ingredients, you prepare the cauldron?"

Scorpius nodded his consent, pulling out the pot and preparing the knives and spoons. Rose smirked.

"Be right back, Stanley."

Without waiting to see his reaction, Rose hopped off her stool and hurried towards the student cupboard, list of ingredients held tightly in her hand, her shoulders shaking as she tried to hold in a laugh. When she entered the tiny room, she couldn't help the giant grin that covered her face.

She collected the proper ingredients quickly, already aware of where most of them were kept. When she had everything, she walked slowly back towards her table, all the different boxes and bottles stacked in her arms.

She almost dropped the box at the top of her pile, but Scorpius (or, rather, Stanley) reached out and snatched it from her at the last moment. "Thanks," Rose said distractedly, placing everything else on the counter.

He didn't answer, helping her organize everything into the order they would use it. Rose was pleasantly surprised at how helpful and structured he was - all the other partners she'd been with in the past were dreadful.

"Congratulations, Stan, you're already better than all my past Potion's partners."

Scorpius's eyes narrowed, ignoring her compliment. "You know my name isn't Stanley."

"Do I?" Rose mused, a falsely innocent smile on her face.

"Yes," Scorpius said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at her.

Rose smirked, placing the last box in line. "Do you want to cut or stir?"

"I'll cut, thank you," he responded, reaching for the knife. He sent her a smirk. "I don't trust you with a weapon."

Rose blinked once, surprised, before letting out a short laugh. "You don't even know me!"

Scorpius didn't look at her, but Rose watched as a smile twisted together on his lips. Rose immediately decided she didn't like this smile - it gave her an ominous feeling, made her feel like prey. She narrowed her eyes.

"I know you tripped twice on your way to the cupboard."

Rose's mouth popped open audibly, making his smile deepen. She shook her head, her lips opening and closing as she tried to form words through her embarrassment. She felt her ears turn red and ducked her head. "There were people," she lied, poorly. "I was being pushed-"

"There was no one within three feet of you," Scorpius opposed, a full on, happy grin extending on his face. "And there was nothing on the floor, so don't bother trying that excuse," he continued. Rose's mouth, which she had just opened again, snapped shut and she growled under her breath.

"I wasn't going to say that," she snapped, turning away from him to attend to their cauldron.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows dubiously. "Really?"

"Shove off," Rose said, sending him a sideways glare, which he responded to with a cheeky wink and a laugh. Rose couldn't help but smile as he sniggered; his laughter was infectious.

"You're annoying," Rose said, though the amusement in her voice showed she didn't mean it. Scorpius smirked and Rose shook her head, but dropped it as she concentrated on stirring their potion. She had to stir exactly sixty times clockwise, and then another forty times counter-clockwise. Beside her, Scorpius was quietly chopping up the next ingredient.

"Forty-three, forty-four," she counted aloud, her eyes watching the liquid as it changed from acid green to a light pink.

Scorpius smirked, watching her out of the corner of his vision, his eyes gleaming. He leaned towards her slowly, whispering quietly, "thirty-five, thirty-six." Rose, without even noticing, began counting with him, adding an extra ten stirs to the pot and not even noticing her mistake until it was too late.

"Scorpius!" she exclaimed when the pot began to bubble. She turned to glare at him, but jumped back as the potion spit out at her. "You ruined our potion!"

By this time, the whole class had turned to watch Rose and Scorpius. All Weasleys were notoriously known for their tempers, and although Rose had never had an outbreak in class, there was a first time for everything. No one was surprised that she finally cracked, everyone had been waiting for this to happen since day one.

What everyone was surprised at was the recipient of her anger.

Scorpius was laughing. Full on, head thrown back, stomach heaving laughing at the mistake he had caused. Rose attempted another glare at him, but this only increased his laughter. He turned away from her, leaning over and holding his knees for support. "I can't believe you fell for that," he said, after taking several deep breaths to calm himself. He took another peek at her face and collapsed into more peals of laughter.

Rose tried to remain stern with him, but years of putting up with Weasley-Potter antics had trained her to appreciate a joke. And besides that, his laughter _was _infectious. Before she could stop it, a smile bloomed on her lips and before she knew it she was laughing along with him.

Everyone in the class blinked largely. Since when were Weasleys and Malfoys on good enough terms to joke with one another?

"I can't believe I fell for that," Rose admitted, shaking her head. Both were oblivious to all the stares they were getting. "James must have tried to pull that one on me about a hundred times and I never once fell for it."

The potion bubbled again and Rose yelped and jumped back. Professor Higgs, who had been staring at the pair in shock, started as Rose screamed and walked over to their table. He peeked down into their potion for a moment before shaking his head and pulling out his wand. With one flick their pot was clean.

"You will both need to come back later tonight and restart your potion," he said, eyes reproving. "Come directly after dinner. Everyone else, back to work!"

Rose watched as the class reluctantly went back to their respective projects. She hadn't noticed anyone had been watching, and colored with embarrassment. Scorpius looked surprised as well, but instead of coloring like Rose, he looked down at the desk top, his face expressionless.

Rose noticed his reaction and furrowed her eyebrows curiously. She knew he got a lot of attention, but maybe he was naturally shy? It didn't seem fitting after all she had heard about him, but she supposed it was possible.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Rose, trying to lighten the mood, leaned towards Scorpius, whispering quietly, "I think we're going to fail potions this year."

The side of his mouth twitched. "I'm forced to agree with you. Although, this instance was completely your fault."

Rose stared at him, her mouth hanging open. After a moment she let out a short laugh. "You've got to be joking!"

Professor Higgs shushed her from his desk and Rose shrunk in her seat, trying to hide herself from his view. Half under the desk, she turned to Scorpius.

"You are joking, right? That was completely your fault!"

She didn't notice until she stopped speaking that Scorpius was grinning, his eyes bright and teasing. She shook her head at him.

"You're going to be the death of me," she said.

His grin widened. "I think you've got that reversed. Did you see the way your potion was fizzing?"

"Oh, so it's _my_ potion now?" Rose grumbled, rolling her eyes. "I saw it. I think it's the worst potion I've ever made. Completely destroyed my perfect grade average. I had gotten all O's this year until you came along."

"It's only the first week back," Scorpius said with a laugh. "_Everyone _has perfect grades."

Rose shook her head. "Not anymore we don't. We're complete and total failures, you are me."

Scorpius smirked and shrugged. "Could be worse; imagine if we had been forced to drink it!"

"Times up!" Professor Higgs called, just as Rose opened her mouth to respond. "Everyone place their cauldrons on the table in the back and head to your next class."

Rose pushed her book into her bag, looking over at Scorpius as she stood up. "I suppose I'll see you tonight," she said

He nodded, sending her a smirk. "Hopefully you won't mess up our potion again."

Rose narrowed her eyes, her lips tightened in to a thin line as she tried to suppress a smile. "Goodbye, Stanley."

Scorpius scowled at her. "Don't call me that."

Rose laughed. "That's your name, isn't it? Oh! There's the bell - gotta run. See you after dinner, Stan."

Scorpius called after her, but she was already out in the corridor, emerging with the throng of students on their way to their next class. She smiled as she spotted her best friend, Maddie, in the crowd.

"I think I just made a new friend," she told her, swinging her arm through Maddie's and starting down the hallway with her.

"Is he cute?"

* * *

**Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize.**

**Author's Note**: I finally (FINALLY) got a day off and decided to go through and edit this. I wrote it a few months ago, but it was never finished and I've been so busy I haven't been able to do much writing. Hope you all liked it. It's going to remain a one-shot.

I would also like to thank everyone who has reviewed my other story: "Start of Something New." I really appreciate all the feedback. :)

**xx Tiponi xx**


End file.
